This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Devices for sealing a fistula in a patient's tissue are illustrated and described in: Blom, Eric D., “Gestione clinica delle complicanze da intervento di ripristino vocale dopo fistola tracheo-esofagea,” XXII Convegno Nazionale Di Aggiornamento A. O. O. I. Impianti Fonatori Nel Laringectomizzato, Rome, Sep. 23, 1998, pp. 127-141; and, Hilgers, Frans J. M., Jessica Soolsma, Annemieke H. Ackerstaff, Fons J. M. Balm, I. Bing Tan and Michiel W. M. van den Brekel, “A Thin Tracheal Silicone Washer to Solve Periprosthetic Leakage in Laryngectomies: Direct Results and Long-Term Clinical Effects,” The Laryngoscope, vol. 118, pp. 640-645, April 2008. The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated herein by reference. This listing is not intended as a representation that a complete search of all relevant prior art has been conducted, or that no better references than those listed exist. Nor should any such representation be inferred.
There are also the devices and methods illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,911,716; 5,919,231; and, 6,776,797. The disclosures of these references are hereby incorporated herein by reference. This listing is not intended as a representation that a complete search of all relevant prior art has been conducted, or that no better references than those listed exist. Nor should any such representation be inferred.